Improvement in corn-planters



M. ROBBINS. CORN PLANTER.

No. 16,611. X Patented Peb. 10, 1857.

ws Pcfzns co.. PHoTaLx'mo.. WASHINGTON n l:

y UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE.

MARTIN ROBBIN's, 0E CINCINNATI, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN-PLANTERS.

t' Specification formino,l part of Letters Patent No. 16,6ll, dated `February 10, 1857'.

To all uhom 'it 'may concern:

Be itknown that 4I, MARlrrN-RoBBINs, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, have in- Vented a new and useful Improvement in Corn- `Planters; and Ido hereby declare the follow- 'ing to be a full, clear,and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part ot this specification.

The ohject of Iny invention is to produce a seed-planting plow which (without previous laying off ofthe ground) will plantfin equidistant and opposite hills, and thus admit of cross plowing and cultivation.l

Machines which have heretofore been contrived to drop seed in hills with sufficient regularity for crosscnltivation havefailed in performing their object, because a driving-wheel working upon loose and shifting soil has been relied on as the source of motion to the scedplanting apparatus. Such a wheel is unavoidably quite irregular in its action, and .hence the crooked cross-rows, which are the invariable result of this Inode of planting, and which A canse most farmers to prefer the old anode of marking ott'.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side View ot' my machine. Fig. 2 is a top f view of the same. Fig. 3 is-a transverse section through the hopper. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the hopper.

' ot' seed measuring and dropping mechanism,

which, not dfferin g materially from others now in use, requires no specitic description. From one side of the hopper-projects a pair of lugs,

. e, for Vthe hinged attachment of a frame, f,

called by me the arm.

gis a vibrating tappet in said arm, which has a tooth or claw projecting from its front side. This tappet is contained in a case or box, b, open at the ends to permit the passage ot'- a'chai'n, tjk, hereinafter described, which operates the tappet. A rod, l, communicates the motion ot' the tappet to the seed-dcliverin g mechanism.

In order to insure complete regularity, each I charge of grain is tinally dropped by means ot serving to adjust the former and hold it in its proper place for the time being. The adjustable element is provided in the form of a perforated plate, p, attached to the beam. y

j k is a chain, of which the rods i correspond in length to the desired distance between the consecutive hills. These rods are united end to.end by means of hook-and-eye joints j. At each joint is a button, k. fw are springs, which vserve to return the tappet g to its'normal position.

q r isa devicefor' removing clods from the hills and covering the seed with the more tine- ]y-pulverized earth, and consists of a prow,y q, composed-ot` two plates, r, which diverge from a single vertical edge, and twowings, which extend backward and converge inward fromthe ,rear edges of the plates, and 'have their lower edges somewhat lower. Behind and' somewhat higher than this is a roller, s, to

press the earth conipactly about the seed.

tis a cord, which, egtending Afrom a hinged or shifting cap, fv, of the chain-box to the hand ot' the operator, enables the liberation of the chain when desired.

The chain and machine are'1nanaged or'op erated as follows: A straight furrow ot' commencement being laid o" along one sideof the eld', an end ot' the jointed rod or chain is made fast at one end ot said furrow, and is extended rect-angularly from it to the other side ot the field, at which point the chain is also attached in any suitable manner. A sight beingthen erected one-halt` as far on one side of the chain as the distance that is desired between the rows, and the chain being placed within the box at the end ot" the arm, as the machine is drawn forward, the buttons k and spring fw, acting through the vibrating tippet on the seeding mechanism, cause th`e depositing lof the seed at regular intervals. When the machine'has reached the termination of a row the chain is removed from the a-rm and the machine is brought onto the next row, facing in the opposite direction. The arm and hopper are then swung round until the former projects from the opposite side of the beam, and, the chain beingagain placed within the box, the work proceeds as before. The operator, after having proceeded a few steps, may shift that end of the chain to the position required for the next row, lche straightness ot' the chain being' unimportant, as its otlice is solely to determine the intervals Aot' Seetldroppine. v1n maintaining the direction and straightness of the rows the operator will bc guided whollyY by thesight. By such means, with the use of the reversible arm and hopper, the chain may lie always on the planted side of' the tield with -e l i 16.611

respect to the machine, and only requires to be shifted each time the distance between two consecutive rows.

I claim as new and of' in v invention hereinrlhe reversible hopper and arm, with the vibrating claw or tappe'r, connected as described with seeding,r mechanism, in combination with thc jointed rod or chain provided with buttons or similar devices, for the purposes explained. V In testimony of' which invention 1 hereunto set my hand.

MARTIN ROBBINS.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. KNIGHT, JAMES H. GRIDLNY. 

